Imperfect Platitudes
by Lliri
Summary: Arthur thought it would be a normal sort of summer, working at an excavation somewhere in the middle of the Mesoamerican rainforest. Then he met Merlin. No set pairings, rated for a possibility of violent spirits and undead armies.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The night air was warm and damp as Arthur Pendragon stepped off the plane, followed by his half-sister Morgana Pendragon. The pair of them looked suitably imposing as they surveyed their surroundings for a few moments.

"Uther said that someone would be here to meet us. I don't see anyone waiting." Morgana said disdainfully.

"No." agreed Arthur. "We'll just have to wait, then." He set his suitcase down with a sigh and began to flip through his emails on his Iphone. Who knew if the ruins even had reception? Morgana took out his ear buds and started to flip through her music. Arthur could hear a tinny Lady Gaga singing through her speakers.

Two Lady Gaga songs, one Imagine Dragons tune, and some Tinie Tempah later, a roofless car turned up. It bounced along the road with its wheels jangling it its sockets. It was a perfect picture of quaint, half-broken down industry. It abruptly came to a stop a few metres away from Arthur. A tall, skinny man nearly launched himself out of the car, stumbling over his own feet and losing his balance.

His arms wildly pin wheeled and Arthur was sure he was going to end up flat on his face. Miraculously, the man came to a stop right in front of Arthur with his hand extended and a ridiculously happy smile on his face.

"Are you Arthur and Morgana? I'm supposed to pick you up." He leaned around to smile at Morgana. "You look like an Arthur and Morgana. Not that I have a frame of reference. But still."

"Yes, are you Merlin?" Arthur asked quickly, before the man could keep talking.

"I am him. Sorry I'm late, Gaius made me clean out the lizard tank before I left." Merlin flashed them a brilliant grin.

"Gaius, as in the overseer of the dig?" Arthur asked. A man called Leon was the official overseer, but everyone he had talked to said that Gaius was the one who was really in charge.

"Ya. He's my uncle. He seems to think that means he can make me do chores whenever he wants." Arthur chuckled. Merlin stepped around him and took Morgana's suitcase from her and started loading it into the back of the car. Morgana tugged it out of his hands.

"I'll do that for myself, thanks." Morgana said coolly. Merlin didn't seem to be offended by this; in fact, his grin increase by a fraction of an inch. Arthur shoved his own suitcase into the back of the car and they took off. He had already started to tune out some of Merlin's chatter.

Merlin's driving would be called erratic at best. He swerved randomly around the trees and animals that seemed to pop up everywhere. As Merlin took a particularly sharp corner Arthur turned visibly green.

"So what are you two doing at this dig?" Merlin asked cheerfully. Arthur just nodded weakly; If he opened his mouth he would probably puke.

"Oh, are you feeling queasy? Don't worry, the nausea should wear off once with hit the highway." Merlin told them sympathetically. He kept chattering mindlessly at them until they reached the highway and his companions were able to speak again.

"What are you doing at the dig, then?" Merlin asked again.

"I'm working on translating some of the texts that they've already excavated. Arthur is working in mapping and inventorying the inside of the temple." Morgana answered.

"Hey, that means that Arthur will be working with me and Lance, and you'll be working with Freya and Will." Merlin told Morgana. Arthur marvelled inwardly at Merlin. He hadn't stopped smiling once since they had met him. Arthur reminded himself to keep his mind on task.

"How much of the temple have you already gotten through?" he asked.

"We've only done the first few rooms. There are traps in some of them, so we need to be careful. Lance nearly got hit with a poisoned blow-dart earlier today. Hunith is going to kill me when she finds out." Merlin told him.

Arthur was desperately trying to keep the names straight. There was Merlin, Gaius the overseer/uncle, a fellow named Lance, and a woman named Hunith so far. He had mentioned two others, who Morgana was going to work with, but he couldn't recall their names.

And Merlin just kept talking.

"Remind me to introduce you to Gwen. You'll like her. She works in artifact preservation. Then there's Leon. He basically makes everything happen around here. You'll like him too. There's Gwaine. Don't let him get too close to your work, Morgana. Geoffrey is our archivist. If you have any questions, ask him. Then there's Percival, Morgause, Elyan and Mordred…You'll get to know them all eventually." Merlin prattled on. Desperate for the names to stop coming at him, Arthur made a stab at conversation.

"So, why are you here?" Arthur asked.

"Gaius asked me to drive you." Merlin deadpanned.

"No, I mean what are you doing at the dig."

"Mapping the inside of the temple. And lots of inventory."

"I meant- Oh, never mind!" Arthur growled.

"Don't be a prat." Merlin told him. A few seconds later, they pulled into a small parking lot not far from the jungle.

"The temple is inside the jungle. We need to walk the rest of the way. It's a good thing you didn't bring much luggage. Want me to take yours, Morgana?" he teased. Before she could answer, he had hopped out of the car and taken it, walking towards the dark forest.

"Come on then!" he yelled, turning back to look at them for a second.

Arthur gulped. The forest was very big. And he was so very, very small.

Grabbing his own luggage, Arthur started to run after the boy.

"Merlin!" he yelled.


	2. Singing at the Sing Along

**Chapter 2**

They reached the temple after a twenty minute walk. Because of the distance from any other human civilization, they were going to be eating an awful lot of freeze-dried military meals for the rest of the summer. Morgana looked down at her figure in dismay. She would have her work cut out to keep her looks up to their usual standard. They would be sleeping, eating and bathing around the temple area for the whole summer.

There was a scattering of temporary shelters and tents set up in the clearing. She could make out a huge shape that looked like the temple, but she couldn't see any details. In the center of a group of tents there was a small fire crackling with a group of people sitting on logs around it. A boy with light brown hair waved at Merlin, and they joined the group.

After a brief flurry of introductions, Arthur found himself wedged in between a drunk man named Gwaine and a curly haired man called Leon. Leon had a chart out and was examining it.

"Morgana, you'll be in tent C with Gwen, Freya, and Morgause. Arthur, you'll be in with Merlin and his brothers." Leon told them. He showed Arthur over to a tent where Merlin was setting up a bed. Merlin indicated that it was Arthur's, and he set his suitcase down underneath it.

"So is your whole family here then?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded.

"Pretty much. You'll meet my brothers in a minute, and you can meet Gaius tomorrow. Hunith had to stay back at home to take care of her orchard. Actually, there comes Will now. Don't be offended if he doesn't like you." Merlin said, all in a rush. Will arrived in the tent a few seconds later.

"Why can't he go with Gwaine?" Will asked, as a way of greeting.

"The others have enough on their plates anyway. Besides, Arthur is going to work with Lance and me."

"Meanwhile, I slave away over these bloody texts." Will grumbled. Arthur had watched the whole exchange with a raised eyebrow. Did Will work in translation?

Lance and Mordred arrived a few minutes later. Seeing the four boys lined up, Arthur didn't see any family resemblance. At a stretch, he could see Mordred and Merlin being related- They both had dark hair and blue eyes. But Will and Lance looked completely different. Besides, they all had completely different faces!

He shrugged it off. He could worry about it in the morning. After the introductions were said, it was late and time to go to sleep. Within a few minutes, the tent was filled with the sounds of deep breathing. Arthur lay awake for a few minutes longer.

The sound of bugs chirping constantly. Birds were whistling at each other. The light patter of rain on the top of the tent. Everything about this place was completely foreign to Arthur. Eventually, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

XXX

The next Morning

"Arthur. Arthur. Arthur. Wake up. It's time for breakfast. Wake up." Merlin's face slowly came into focus above Arthur.

"Ah, he lives." Lance said cheerfully. From somewhere across the tent, Will made vague grumbling noises. Mordred was still passed out on his cot. Having taken stock of his companion's whereabouts, Arthur swung his feet over the edge of his cot. His back ached. His father was the richest man in Britain, but he still had to sleep in a tent in the middle of nowhere?

The world was going mad, he decided.

A few minutes later, they were sitting outside eating bacon and pancakes for breakfast. The grass was still damp underfoot, and the morning was hot and humid.

By eight in the morning, it was time to start work. Morgause led Morgana to an open sided tent where they would work on translating some of the artefacts they had already uncovered. Arthur, Merlin, and Lance started climbing the steps up the temple. He had barely been able to see the temple the night before, but he could see now that it was _huge._

It extended at least one hundred and fifty feet into the air and the top was covered by a giant, elaborate statue of a human. But this was so much more than a human. It had a vaguely reptilian feel to it, the mane of a lion, and cold, empty eyes that started off into the distance.

Arthur suppressed a shiver. The place just didn't feel quite… Safe.

Never having let that stop him in the past, he climbed up the steps after Lance and Merlin. They entered the first room, a sort of entrance chamber. The walls were covered in inscriptions, pictures of exotic creatures and people.

People, huge gluttonous people levitating piles of… something.

People, lying dead at others feet in some kind of ritual, or maybe a battle.

People in masks playing instruments.

Half snake, half human people with sad, lonely eyes.

People hunched over with the weight of the worlds on their backs.

People with calm, serene faces.

Three old men in hats, reading a tablet of fantastic symbols.

A man with unseeing gold eyes.

A voice cut into his thoughts.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lance said reverentially.

"There's so much detail." Arthur said. "What do they show?"

"See this one?" Lance asked. He gestured towards a mural of several men bleeding, some dead. "We think this is a picture showing an ancient Maya ritual called bloodletting. They thought that by cutting of part of their body they could communicate with their gods. They tried to get into a trance like state. See this ornamental blade thing? It would be used as an instrument to let the blood out. Then, they would collect it in a ceramic bowl."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"We take information from other digs. For example, at Yaxchilan, they found a series of three pictures that give us a lot of information on bloodletting. All of this is just one piece of the puzzle. People everywhere do digs or excavations and then we all pool our information."

"So what are we looking for here then?"

"Anything really. There's still so much we don't know." Lance answered.

A faint crash sounded from the other room.

"Merlin!" Lance yelled, rushing towards the noise. Arthur arrived a second later and saw a stressed looking Lance brushing Merlin off and pulling him to his feet.

"Sorry." Merlin said. "I just-"

"Tripped. Yes, of course you did." Lance said. "You really need to be more-"

"Careful." Said Merlin.

"Aware." Said Arthur.

"Attentive." Said Lance.

XXX

Later

"Cautious." Said Gaius.

"Contentious." Said Leon.

"Discreet." Said Morgana.

"Punctilious." Said Elyan.

"Watchful." Said Gwen.

Why was it _always _Merlin?

**A/N: You know when you get a chapter that rambles on without anything happening? That was how this felt. The next chapter will be up for Wednesday, though, and I guarantee something will happen in that.**


	3. A Bit of a Pickle

**Chapter 3**

The second day of Arthur's job was even more interesting than the first. Merlin had cracked open the heavy stone door to the next room.

"Drop!" he yelled, before hitting the floor himself. Arthur was halfway to the floor when he felt a small dart rush over his head. His heart rate doubled. It felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.

"Holy-"Arthur said weakly, after the danger had passed. "That was way too close for comfort." He pushed himself into a sitting position and glared at Merlin. "So this is what you meant when you said 'traps,' then?" he asked. He still felt weak and pale, although to his credit, you didn't almost die that often. "OK, do we push onwards?"

"Yep. We just need to clear the traps out of this room, and then Restoration can get started on analysing the room. George is coming up at noon to take the room's measurements and inventory."

"We'll want to be long done by then." Arthur said. Lancelot laughed and straightened up. He had just finished bagging the dart. Gaius liked for them to keep them so that he could analyse the poisons that the Mayan's had used.

"Oh, George isn't so bad. He just takes a little… Getting used to." Merlin defended.

"If he would stop making jokes about _fish, _of all things." Lancelot said. He nodded to Arthur and Merlin. "I'm going to bring this down for Gaius to analyse. Keep going, but please try not to get yourself killed. Arthur, don't let Merlin get himself hurt, OK?"

Arthur smiled and said yes. Merlin's smile got a little tense.

"I'm not fourteen anymore. I can take care of myself."

"Humor me."

Merlin huffed at that, but didn't protest. After Lancelot had left, Merlin and Arthur stepped into the next room. Now that Arthur knew that Merlin hadn't been kidding about the traps, he felt very, very aware that he could be stuck with a poisonous dart at any second.

Step. No traps.

Step. Duck. Avoid dart.

Step. No traps.

Step. Duck. Avoid dart.

Step. No-

The door suddenly slammed shut.

_OhmygoodnessI' . . .Don' ,amIgoingtodiereally?_

"Arthur. Don't move a muscle, OK? Stay completely still. We don't want to set off anymore traps." Merlin coached. His voice was edged with panic, but Arthur appreciated the effort.

"You're not going to panic and run?" Arthur asked. His voice was uncomfortably high. He concentrated on pushing it back down to its normal octave.

"No. You?" Merlin replied with equal care. (If asked later, Merlin would claim that Arthur screamed like a girl, and Arthur would say that Merlin squeaked.)

"Me. I'm good. Great. Never been better. What about you?" Arthur asked.

"My answer is the same as the first time you asked." Merlin replied.

"Right. So what do we do now?"

"I guess we just wait. Lance will come for us soon, and if he gets held up, George will be here at noon."

"What time is it now?"

"Oh, Seven-thirty. Give or take 5 minutes." _Great._

"This is ridiculous. I don't even know what I'm doing here." Arthur said angrily.

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked. His training had kicked in. He had to keep Arthur talking and making sure he didn't go into shock.

"Dad wanted me and Morgana to come work here for the summer. I don't understand why though."

"Hunith said that Gaius used to work for your fathers labs. I think she said Forensics. So maybe it's because of Gaius?"

"Hm. Maybe." Arthur said. He would ask Gaius later. "So how did you end up here?" Merlin had unwittingly distracted Arthur from their predicament, namely, being stuck in a deadly temple.

"Hunith thought it would be good for me and my brothers to get away from the city for the summer. There's no way Lance would let us go halfway across the world without him, so I guess we all ended up here."

Arthur wouldn't notice until several days later that Merlin had answered the question without telling him a thing.

After a few minutes, their talk died down. Arthur was drawn into his own thoughts.

Why had his father sent him here, of all places?

What had made the door slam shut?

How come there were so many traps in the temple?

Most of all, what was a giant temple doing in the middle of the rainforest?

XXX

Merlin was used to being in a constant state of activity. Standing still was not something

that came naturally to him, and he made up for it with a constant hum of activity. He tapped his fingers against each other like they were having mini seizures. But it wasn't enough. He had to do _something, _or he would probably do something Not Good, like panic and run.

He needed to be logical, needed to think this through in a nice, linear fashion. Needed to separate his mind from the situation and look at it as an objective, third person viewer. Needed to formulate a realistic plan and then follow through.

He wasn't panicking. _He wasn't panicking, goddammit!_

_ OK Merlin. Let's play the 'this-is-a-movie-and-we-need-to-tell-the-protagonist-what-to-do' game._

XXX

Arthur had been shipped off to some creepy temple in the middle of nowhere. He had been forced to work with the annoyingly perfect Lance and his kid brother, he had been _shot at _with _darts, _and he was stuck in a closed room with said kid brother. Arthur had had enough.

And then he noticed that Merlin had stopped talking. His sense automatically went on high alert.

"Merlin." He whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Merlin whispered back.

"I could ask you the same thing. I was worried you were going into shock or something."

"I'm surprised you even know what shock is." Merlin retorted. He sounded panicked.

"Are you claustrophobic or something?" Arthur asked.

"No." _Defensive. _"In most cultures, they consider this sort of thing a _perfectly reasonable thing to panic about!_"

"Drivel." Arthur said dismissively. And then he heard a strange wheezing noise coming from across the room. He started to feel uneasy once again. If Merlin was panicking, he wouldn't know what to do.

"Just don't panic, OK? Lance or George will be here soon." He said awkwardly. He really wasn't any good at all this emotional stuff.

Oh.

Merlin wasn't panicking.

He was laughing.

And before Arthur knew what was happening, so was he.

**There was one more line I was dying to add, but it didn't work with the changes I made. So, just to be contrary, I shall add it in my authors note.**

_**It was so completely hopeless. Arthur lost it again.**_

**In the fanfiction world, R&amp;R does not mean rest and relaxation. Bet you all know what it really means!**


	4. The Beans for Three Scenes

Lance was the most level-headed person he knew. He never really got flustered, and he was almost always prepared and on time. He was intelligent enough to get through high school easily, but had the street smarts needed to keep himself out of trouble. If you asked almost anyone, they would say that he was unflappable.

Then again, it wasn't every day his little brother was locked inside a temple.

Really, Lance knew that they would be fine. Merlin was smart enough to calm himself down, and Arthur didn't seem like the type to panic easily. But Lance had a right to be just a little freaked out. If Merlin had tripped and set off a trap…

Lance would never forgive himself. And so his first, natural reaction to seeing the door wedged shut was to start yelling. He didn't know exactly what he was saying, but he finally registered a voice coming from the other side of the door.

_Merlin._

After panic came relief. His little brother was safe. He was telling Lance to shut up because they were OK and to _open the damned door already, _and it was all OK. So he went to go get George, because George loved to help and the doorstop was really big. Merlin sounded a bit grumpy to be left with Arthur again, but Lance could already tell that the two of them were friends, so Lance told him to shut up, and went on his way.

Soon enough, George was climbing the temple stairs after Lance. They started to pull the boulder back from the door, but it was stuck. No matter how hard they pulled, it just wouldn't move. Suddenly, Lance had an idea.

"Merlin." He whispered. Merlin couldn't hear him through the stone walls, so he whispered a bit louder. "Merlin!" No answer. After three more tries, he had finally captured the warlock's attention. "I'm invoking code Omega. To your left, about 30 degrees, outside the door."

Almost like magic, the boulder creaked and fell over a bit. With one final heave, Lance pulled the boulder over and opened the door.

Merlin and Arthur were out like a shot. Merlin had made it a couple steps further than Arthur into the chamber before the door had slammed shut, and so he ended up nearly tripping over Arthur in an attempt to get out.

"Don't be such a girl, Merlin." Arthur said. Then he scratched his head. "You know Lance, I saw something gold flash just before you got the door open. Maybe it was part of the trap."

Lance and Merlin exchanged amused glances. It seemed that even in this reincarnation, Arthur would be the last to know.

"Don't worry about it. We'll use Kilagharrah to set off the rest of the traps. Lance was talking about Merlin's favourite lizard. It had climbed into their tent a few nights after they arrived, and his little brother had insisted that it stayed.

"Uh, no. That just isn't acceptable." Merlin said. "We can use a remove controlled car or something. You touch Kilagharrah, you die. Got it?"

"Always so violent." Lance clucked.

The third emotion that Lance felt throughout that scene was betrayal.

Arthur had said that he would keep Merlin safe. Merlin said that he would keep Merlin safe. And even though neither of them got hurt, he realized that both of them had lied.

No one messed with Merlin without going through Lance. He and Arthur would have to have a talk later.

XXX

Somehow, word about their adventure had already reached the main camp before they even finished walking down the stairs. At the bottom, they were greeted- Or rather, Merlin was greeted by two girls. One of them was small and pale, with ratty short hair and a frail build. The other girl was taller, older, and curvier with an exotic sort of beauty.

Arthur's mouth fell open a little. The exotic one was hugging Merlin, and then she smiled and her whole face just lit up. Her hair was frizzy from the humidity, but her eyes were sweet and her smile was the most beautiful thing.

She turned towards Arthur, and he almost didn't know what he was doing. He could see that he had extended his hand, and he felt his face forming a smile and some words, but if you asked him what had happened later, he wouldn't be able to explain.

"Hi, I'm Gwen."

_Gwen. Gwen. Gwen? Where have I heard that before? Ah! Quick, say something witty!_

"Like Guinevere?" he asked. _Real witty. I bet every Arthur she's ever met asks her that. Stupid. Stupid other Arthurs. Stupid Arthur._

She gave him a half smile, and Arthur realized that he was still shaking her hand. He quickly let it drop to his side, wiping the sweat off.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name?" she asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was Arthur?" he said jokingly.

"That depends. Do you have a sister named Morgana, a wizard sidekick named Merlin, and a father called Uther?"

"Well…"

Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding!"

"Merlin isn't my sidekick, or a wizard. But the rest… Is some sort of bizarre coincidence."

"I have a brother named Elyan. And Mordred was the name of a knight of the round table." She didn't mention that Mordred was the one who was prophesized to kill Arthur.

"And Lance is really Lancelot is disguise."

"Don't forget about Gwaine."

"Gwaine?"

"The drunk one. He's a security guard."

"Hmm. What about Percival?"

"There's a Percival who works as a cultural expert. Oh, and a Nimeuh who works in restoration, and a Morgause who works as a translator."

"Now do you believe me?"

"Yes, I think I do. But there's one last test."

"Try me."

"Can you pull a sword out of a stone?"

They cracked up. "If I ever come across a sword in a stone, I'll be sure to try." Arthur answered. They looked around and saw the others had left sometime during their conversation, and Gaius was calling.

"My lady, it seems I have to go." Arthur bowed, grinning like a madman.

"My lord." Gwen answered, curtsying.

Was it just Arthur, or was his summer looking up already?

XXX

Merlin felt pretty good. He had held himself together quite nicely back there, even though he just wanted to crack up the whole time. He had memories of hiding in closets and under beds, probably from when he was a kid. Merlin didn't really remember being a kid, but that was OK.

Freya had greeted him once he got down from the temple, and they had snuck away from Gwen and Arthur. Freya was sure that this was some sort of Camp or Prophecy, and wanted to get them back together.

It was natural that Merlin and Freya would become friends. They were both some of the youngest people at the camp, but you really couldn't force the sort of instant connection that they had. The first day that they had met, Merlin had been struck by everything about Freya, and it seemed that she felt the same way about him.

They fit together. They had both grown up far too fast; Merlin when he lost his birth parents, and Freya when she was diagnosed with cancer. They both were hard workers and extremely determined, and they had both come to the same realization at a young age. They knew that they weren't going to live forever, and they knew that angsting over the past wouldn't change anything.

Sometimes it almost felt like they could communicate without words. It was eerie. Earlier in the season, Freya had broken her finger after a particularly hard chemo treatment. She had just sat down on the curb and wanted to stop feeling so sick and lonely, and then a few minutes later Merlin had turned up. He had sat down beside her, and then Freya knew that she would be OK.

They both thought now that it was all going to be OK. Their fingers started to drift closer together.

Gaius called them to hurry up and come see what he had found.

XXX

That was how the reincarnated court of Camelot found themselves sitting in Gaius's tent under the sweltering midday sun. Those present included Merlin, Lance, Gwen, Freya, Arthur, and Leon, because Leon seemed to be able to be everywhere at the same time.

Gaius spoke.

"I analysed the poison in the darts that were used in the temple."

"And?" Leon prompted.

"The poison isn't old at all. In fact, I don't think the darts were either. I found traces of a type of metal from northern Canada against the wood. And wouldn't the wooden darts of rotted away from the heat by now? No, I don't think the Mayans installed these traps. I think that someone is trying to keep up away from the temple."

"Who?" Leon asked.

"I don't know. I just hope we can find out before it's too late."

**HAHAHA! It's been four chapters and I'm still updating on time. Seriously, that's some kind of record:)**

**Go to ** www virtualfortunecookies com/ to ********collect your virtual cookies if you review. They only come in one flavour, but they give you good advice:)****

****Without the breaks in between the words. You all knew that though:)****


	5. Roasting on the Roasting-Stick

Gwaine.

Gwaine was a twenty-two year old security guard. He had started cadets from some extremely young age (He never was good at remembering specific dates) and from there, had went to military college, and eventually he became a security guard.

Gwaine liked to think of himself as a straightforward kind of guy. As long as he had a place to sleep and some alcohol in his system, he would be happy.

And then he met Merlin. They had met in the most comical of circumstances. Gwaine, drunk, had gotten into a bar fight and had been kicked out. Merlin had been there, then. He still smiled when he thought about that day.

Merlin had helped Gwaine catch a bus home. He didn't ask for Gwaine to help pay, or for any thanks, he just helped him. Gwaine remembered wondering what a kid Merlin's age was doing out in the city after dark, but he got the feeling that his questions wouldn't be welcome.

Two minutes after they got off the bus, it had veered off course and crashed into the river. Merlin and Gwaine were the last two passengers off. Only the driver died, a middle aged man named Balinor.

He woke up the next morning with a wicked hangover. His boss had left a voicemail firing him, and his rent was far overdue. So Gwaine packed his bags, signed up for the army, and never thought of it again.

After a while, Gwaine started to grow tired of the army. He loved the thrills from fighting, he loved the feeling of family that came from being part of a squadron, but seeing the real people who got hurt when they fought was too much. He left the army, arranged a meeting with a small non-profit looking to explore the rainforest for some ruins, and less than a week later they hired him.

When he saw Merlin the second time, he was laughing with some skinny girl of around his age. Any idiot could tell that Merlin liked her, so Gwaine crept quietly by. But a couple hours later, he had told the girl, one Freya Du Lac that she should go and start dating the guy already. Merlin had met Gwaine again about an hour later. When Gwaine had started talking to him, Merlin just looked a bit confused and asked where they had met. A quick conversation had told him everything that he needed to know; Merlin didn't really remember much from when he was a kid.

So without Merlin knowing, Gwaine owed him. It looked like he could finally help him some way.

XXX

Merlin called in a favour about two weeks into the summer. Apparently there had been some trouble up in the temple, and Merlin needed a list of people who had left the camp in the past couple weeks.

"Sure thing, one second…" Gwaine answered. "OK, so the only people who left camp in the last two weeks are you, Arthur and Morgana, Freya, Morgause, Percival, Leon, and Nimueh… So basically half the camp." Gwaine shrugged. "Sorry I can't help you anymore."

"Trust me that helps." Merlin said, waving a cheery good-bye to his friend.

Afterwards, Gwaine looked over the list again. Morgana and Arthur were above suspicion, as was Merlin. Freya had good reasons to leave the camp. That just left Morgause, Percival, Leon, and Nimueh. If Gwaine had to hedge his bets, he would say that Morgause was behind it all. As far as he was concerned, Morgause hid her immorality behind a layer of sickly sweetness.

But then, Gwaine wasn't exactly the best judge of character. Percival could be the traitor, for all he knew!

XXX

"Merlin, I need you to go find a flower." Gaius said.

"If you want to charm Alice, you can collect your own flowers." Merlin replied.

"It's not for Alice. Look here." Gaius slid a book towards Merlin. Merlin scanned the page.

"You think that they used this flower to add poison to the darts?"

"I would need a sample to figure that out."

"OK, I'll go now." Merlin turned to leave.

"Wait- Bring someone with you." Gaius called. He saw Merlin nod, and then the boy was gone.

XXX

In the end, Lance, Arthur, and Mordred had all come with Merlin. It was a swelteringly hot day, but at least out in the forest there were tree's to give them shade. The area surrounding the temple didn't have that luxury.

One of the things Arthur had been most confused about when he arrived at the dig was the location of the temple. It just didn't make sense for them to try and build out in the middle of nowhere.

Lancelot was happy to provide the answer. Apparently, the Mayans practiced 'slash and burn' agriculture. They would burn down parts of the rainforest and use it as farmland. They would abandon it once the soil became too poor, and new rainforest would grow in. They thought that the temple they were working at now was an older one, and that all of the surrounding rainforest was secondary growth. It didn't explain why the area surrounding the temple was still tree-free, but Arthur would take whatever answers he could get.

And then something hard hit his head. He let out an impressive string of swear words, looking up.

Was that a monkey?

Something else hit his head from the other side. He whirled around. The monkey was standing a few feet away from him.

"This is NOT normal monkey behaviour!" Merlin yelled. Arthur turned around and saw his companions getting pelted by the… Whatever it was they were being bombarded by.

"What do we bloody do?" Arthur asked. Another Thingie hit his head.

"Why are you asking me?" Merlin asked.

"Who else do I ask?"

"Lance!"

"Lance! What do we do?"

"I'm a marine biologist, not a monkey expert!" Lance responded.

"Here's an idea: Let's run!" Merlin yelled.

"Great idea, Merlin! Where do we run?" Arthur replied sarcastically.

"That way!" Merlin pointed wildly into the undergrowth, then started crashing towards his destination. He had only gotten a few steps before tripping and hitting his head on a discarded Thingie. He was out cold.

"C'mon!" Arthur yelled to Lance. They each took one of Merlin's arms and started to drag him deeper into the forest as quickly as they could. About five minutes later, they stopped, panting heavily.

"I think we lost them." Arthur lowered Merlin to the ground. Then he dropped down beside his friend.

"What were those?" Lance asked. "I don't know much about monkeys, but that can't be normal."

"Nothing here is normal. I mean, half the camp is named after the Arthurian legends. That can't be normal."

"Next thing you know, we'll both be dating Gwen, Merlin will be an old man wizard, and Freya will be immortal."

"I'll be a warlock, actually." Merlin said groggily. He sat up and leaned against the tree. "What on earth just happened?"

"You got yourself knocked out and Arthur and I had to drag you away. Honestly Merlin, it's amazing you lasted as long as you did without us."

"Hey, I'm not that incompetent."

"Right."

"Fourteen years, Lance. I must have been some tough little scrapper."

"Like you remember any of it." Lance said. Arthur laughed because it was supposed to be funny, but in reality he had no idea what they were going on about.

"That sounds like a good story, you'll have to share it sometime." Arthur commented.

"Or not." Merlin grinned. Grinning seemed to be his automatic response to everything; Danger, grin, happiness, grin, annoyance, grin.

People-puzzles always were Arthurs favourite.


	6. Yours truly, TLOP

The flower was small, yellow and hidden in a tiny crevice between two rocks. The rocks were on top of a small mountain. The mountain was surrounded by a river full of piranhas. Some sort of monitor lizard guarded the river, but luckily it was sleeping. The lizard lived in a gorge that opened up just before the mountain began.

Arthur and Lancelot, being capable sorts, had simply jumped the river and the gorge and climbed the mountain. Merlin followed behind, a little less competently, but Merlin being Merlin, he still made it.

Arthur took the flower and tucked it into his pant pocket before they moved on. Jumping the river and gorge was easier the second time round, and since no monkeys attacked them on their way back it only took a half-hour. The sun had barely started to lower by the time they got back to camp, but people were already bustling about to put their work away. It was Friday, and most people took the weekend off, so everyone was eager to be done for the week.

Dinner was served, and Arthur was starting to feel a bit strange, in the best way possible. He could have died that day, but he hadn't. And now he felt like he had almost been… Initiated. Like these people fully trusted him not to mess up. He was starting to feel drowsy; that girl was such a good singer, but all he wanted to do was sit down and sleep for about a year.

His head hit the table.

XXX

You could call him paranoid, but Merlin was pretty sure someone was out to get Arthur. He had been in at least two potentially fatal situations that day, and counting.

Merlin scowled as he dragged the now-unconscious body of Mary Collins away. It was a good thing he managed to stop the knife before it hit Arthur. He never knew that time could move so slowly. It was just like magic.

XXX

"Merlin, I need you to go pick up some supplies from town." Gaius said.

"But it's Saturday!"

"Excellent, you can bring Arthur." Gaius replied. He walked out of the room, slapping a list of ingredients down on the table.

Merlin stretched, then got up. He had an Arthur to find.

XXX

They had reached the car, which was waiting faithfully in the parking lot, as always. Most of the ingredients could be found in the grocery store in town, and the rest could be found in the gas station shop.

And so they started to drive.

"Merlin." Arthur said.

"Yes?"

"There are a few things I don't understand."

"Only a few?" Merlin made a sharp left turn and Arthur turned green. He took a moment to compose himself.

"When Mary was singing, why did we all fall asleep? And then by the time I woke up, she was gone. And there was a dagger."

"Yeah, about that. I'm not sure how to break this to you, but she was trying to kill you." Merlin replied bluntly.

"Yes, I figured out that much. But why? What does she have against me?"

"Eh, I don't know. I have to concentrate for this bit." There was a series of sharp turns coming up ahead, as they looped through a section of lightly forested area.

Arthur clutched his stomach and stared at the bottom of the car. He _hated _riding in this car, with all its weird noises and funny smells and…

"Merlin, is it supposed to smell like its burning?" Arthur asked, a hint of worry creeping into his voice.

"Ignore it!" Merlin shouted over the wind. " It usually goes away,, you don't need to worry about it until- Oh, crap!" Merlin made a sharp turn and brought the car to a dead stop near the side of the road.

"What happened?" Arthur demanded, hopping out of the car to look at it. Merlin followed suit.

"It should be fine." Merlin said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant. He kicked the trunk a couple times, hoping to restart the engine. Arthur reappeared around the other side of the car.

"Any- Oh, no, don't do that. Let me look at it." Arthur opened up the hood of the car and started poking around.

Merlin reclined against a tree, shielding his eyes from the intense mid-afternoon sun. He sighed moodily.

"I thought you were all anti-angst." Arthur said, turning to grin at the younger boy.

"You try being cheerful all the time when you're up at all hours of the night having funny dreams, and half the time you're awake people are constantly spouting these annoying, imperfect platitudes at you." Merlin contorted his face and started mimicking Gaius. "_You're not crazy, Merlin. What are you talking about? Now go pick me some weird ancient flowers. You think something funny is going on? It's probably just your imagination. Go do this. Go do that. Ignore the fact the LAWS OF PHSCICS and GRAVITY and everything HUMAN and NATURAL don't seem to even APPLY in your case!_"

Merlin took a breath. "I swear on my mother's life, I'm not crazy! There's something wrong going on, and Gaius knows, and I think Hunith knows too. They're hiding something, and, damn my curiosity, I literally can't think about anything else." He stood up and started pacing. Arthur stared at him. Had there been signs?

"Gaius said that everyone just _happened _to fall asleep when Mary started singing. And then she just _happened _to decide that, hey! I should take a knife with _ancient druidic symbols _on it and throw it at Arthur! Gaius said I was just lucky, being fast enough to push you out of the way in time, but I know that's not true, I'm not that fast! And then I was really stressed out, and Mary _died. _She didn't leave, Arthur. She died! She was so… Dead!" Merlin's eyes were wild. He looked like a caged, half-crazy animal.

"There were other signs too. The monkeys. Monkeys don't just _randomly _attack people. Darts don't just work after that long, no, they would have needed to be placed there recently, or the Mayan's would need super-glue to keep them in place that long."

"Lance knows. He knows, and I think I do too. It's nagging at the back of my head. I think that there's something more I can do, but _I don't know what! _I've always been able to do things when I was feeling strongly, like back with the darts and the temple? I was able to unlock the door. Without touching it. With my mind. I've seen X-men! I don't want to be dragged off to be tested."

"Gwaine knows something, too. Something about before I lost my memories. I swear, I just want someone to tell me _what on earth is going on!_"


	7. Thou Shalt Not Defy

Imperfect Platitudes: Chapter 7

Arthur stared at Merlin.

Merlin stared at Arthur.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"Uh…" Merlin replied.

"That escalated quickly." Arthur said. He sat down with his back against the hot metal of the car. Merlin stared for a few more seconds, then sprawled back down across the dirt.

"Your neckerchief is going to get dirty." Arthur pointed out.

"I know." Merlin replied. Neither of them wanted to talk about Merlin's outburst.

"So."

"So."

"D'you ever wonder if everything is real?" Merlin asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe none of this is real. Maybe we're all just… Sims." Merlin replied.

"Sims?"

"Or computer programs. Hey, maybe we're all secretly a race of secretly advanced robots!" Merlin's grin faded away. "They would have programmed us to feel certain things, emotions, and to react accordingly. But then once in a while, a robot might have a glitch in its programming, and it won't work the way the rest of them do."

"I wonder who programmed you!" Arthur teased, trying to cheer Merlin up. Merlin looked melancholic.

"Yeah, yeah, I wonder that too."

"They must have been brilliant. A nutjob, of course, but brilliant."

"Who needs the laws of nature anyway?" Merlin sat up and stared at the sun for a few seconds. It was starting to get lower on the horizon, and it was turning a million different shades of orange and pink and red.

"We learned about those in high school. Darwin's theory of evolution and stuff." Arthur said. "The one with the long-legged deer."

"Yeah."

"The days are getting shorter. There's only going to be a couple more weeks at the dig, and then we'll be headed back home."

"So where's home for you?" Merlin asked. He was still staring blankly into space, his voice clipped and automatic.

"Back to Uni, I guess. With Dad and Morgana and my mates. You?"

"I'll get a flat somewhere, I suppose. By a lake, with cows and green grass. I need to get out of the city."

"Wasn't that why you came out here in the first place?"

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love the city, I just…"

"What? You just what?"

"What if I accidentally hurt someone? With… whatever I have. Physic ability, or what do they call it? Telekinesis?"

"You won't." Arthur wasn't sure whether Merlin was crazy or he himself was. Both seemed equally likely. "Besides, how do you even test this? You don't know that you have… It." He finished lamely.

"Say it, Arthur. Say it."

"You know. _Magic._"

Merlin stared at the sun for another few seconds. It had sunk lower during the few minutes their conversation had taken.

"We should head back soon. Can you, y'know, magic the car into working or something?"

"I wish." Merlin laughed. The mood had lifted all of a sudden. "Hey, if it's just magic, that means I can learn how to control it."

"How?"

"I don't know. What would Dumbledore say?" Merlin picked up a random stick from the ground and pointed it at Arthur. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He swished and flicked the stick.

A second later, Arthur was floating above the ground. "Merlin, put me down! Make it stop!"

"I don't know how!" Merlin replied frantically.

"Think about it you idiot, think! What is the spell and the wand used for?"

"A focusing tool." Merlin replied, understanding. "The spell and the wand are used to make the intent of the spell come true. So I can get you down without a spell, I just need to think of what I want to do." Merlin concentrated, his brows low in concentration. Half a minute later, Arthur dropped to the ground. He landed on his feet, then lost his balance and landed on his butt with a soft thud.

"What else can you do?" Arthur asked. He looked mesmerised.

"I don't know." Merlin's voice was higher, and it squeaked.

"Try lifting me again. Without words this time." Merlin was able to lift him quickly this time, within half a second of Arthur's request. He made Arthur float around for a few meters before letting him down again. Arthur pointed towards a withering tree. "Can you make that healthy again?"

Merlin did, paling. He sat down suddenly.

"Ok, maybe I'll hold off on the healing magic for a bit."

"Hey, can you fix the car?" Arthur asked. "Or fly us back to camp? Or create the groceries out of _thin air?_" Arthur was practically overflowing with enthusiasm for Merlin. Merlin, on the other hand, felt nervous and just a little bit morally dubious. Having this power, this strange ability that no one else had shouldn't have felt so good.

"I'll try." Merlin replied absentmindedly. "What did you want me to do again?"

"Fix the car." Arthur repeated. Making things appear out of thin air seemed like a pretty tall order for a guy who had only discovered his magic existed five minutes ago.

Merlin brandished his stick and prepared to say the spell _reparo, _but he felt silly with Arthur watching and set the stick down. Glaring at the car, he willed it to start working again. A couple things clunked, but otherwise nothing else happened.

"You could try again?" Arthur suggested. Merlin looked at him, then at the car. He concentrated.

All of a sudden, the car was blonde with two blue headlights.

"Whoa, that wasn't supposed to happen. I better turn that back." Merlin concentrated, and the car turned back to its normal pine-green shade. The headlights became grey again.

"Now try to fix it." Arthur demanded.

Merlin concentrated fiercely on the car. He pictured it in his mind's eye, and imagined it working again.

The car juddered to life. With a whoop, Arthur jumped in.

"Come on then, _Mer_lin. We have to go tell everyone about your new powers!"

"Wait-No!"

There was a flash, and a tiny lizard came scurrying across the grass, straight towards Arthur. It looked right at him, and then Arthur slumped over in his seat, unconscious.

The lizard looked towards Merlin, then backed up a few paces. "Don't be too shocked, young Warlock." It said.

Wait- It_ SAID?_

_ "HOW DOES THAT WORK? THERE HAS BEEN QUITE ENOUGH OF AN INTERRUPTION IN THE BASIC LAWS OF NATURE FOR ONE DAY!"_

To prove him wrong, the lizard transformed into a dragon.

Merlin took one look at it, and bit down a scream.

"Let's talk about destiny, young Warlock."

**AN: Camp Nanowrimo complete, exams done, volunteering done, now the month of August will be spent (hopefully) (almost) finishing this fic. Apologies for the long wait, and thanks to everyone who reviewed.**


	8. Kilgharrah for King

Merlin looked like a fish, according to Kilgharrah. His mouth was flapping limply open and his eyebrows had raised up halfway across his forehead. The dragon snorted.

"You're a dragon." Merlin stated. "Wow. Uh, give me one minute. I just need to wrap my head around this."

The warlock paced back and forth past the car, briefly stopping to nudge Arthur into a more comfortable position. Kilgharrah could practically see the cogs whirring in his mind; Merlin had fallen far since they last met.

"OK, dragons' exist." Merlin said. "I accept that. Are there many of you?"

"My name is Kilgharrah, thanks for asking." Kilgharrah replied peevishly.

"Right. I'm Merlin." Merlin said, sticking his hand out for the dragon to shake, then quickly retracting it when he realized that Kilgharrah couldn't shake hands. He wiped it nervously on his pant leg.

"I wished to wait to do this, young warlock, but I fear I have no other choice. The Once and Future King has been reborn for a reason and already I can feel the darkness struggling to get free."

"The darkness? What darkness?" Merlin asked. Kilgharrah glared at him.

"I don't know. I just know that it's dark, and it's coming." He answered. Then it was Merlin's turn to glare.

"Well, a fat lot of help that is! _The darkness is coming!_ How? From where?"

"I just told you: I. Don't. Know!"

"You bloody well should. Aren't you supposed to be some sort of great seer? If this counts for magic these days, I'm disappointed."

"You will not insult me, young Warlock. I have faced horrors that you can only dream-"

"Great, great." Merlin said, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. "I understand. Completely. Now, some details would be nice."

"The dark magic is unlike any which I have seen before. It's older than time itself, a powerful curse sealed away in an impenetrable stronghold." Kilgharrah said, taking a breath and readying his mystic tone of voice. "It is said that only the Once and Future King can breach this stronghold, and by doing so he brings about his own purpose. Just as he made his own worst enemy through Mordred, he will do it again in this lifetime. But this time around, he has a chance to escape."

"So basically, don't let Arthur unleash any evil curses?" Merlin asked blandly. "I understand."

"Very well." Kilgharrah said. "But I am warning you now, the stronghold will come in a form that you will never suspect."

"Er- I think I'm a bit more genre savvy than that." Merlin told him. "I'll give it my best."

"Do as you will, young warlock, but remember my warning: You can't fight fate. Not this time."

"Wait, wha-"Kilgharrah shrunk himself back down to the size of a small reptile. As he did that, a wave of memories hit Merlin like a barrage of angry hornets. He slumped down next to Arthur. As he did that, he dreamed.

_ He was in Camelot (How did he know that?) standing next to Gaius. The elderly man was hunched over a thick, dusty book, pointing towards some symbols._

_ "Great. I'll just go and deal with that, then. Can you pick up some cheese for dinner? I think we'll deserve to celebrate, if we survive."_

_ Gaius nodded, so Merlin tripped his way out of the room. He snuck out of the citadel easily enough, distracting a pair of deadbeat guards by throwing a rock, sans magic. A few minutes later, he was out of the citadel and making his way towards a lake._

_ "Is this where the creature is?" he asked out loud, seemingly to no one in particular. He scanned the lake, seeing a faint disturbance in the water._

_ "Yes, my lord Emrys." Someone replied from the shadows. He nodded and raised a hand and casually flicked the water towards him, lifting a giant snake out of the water._

_ "It doesn't look dangerous." He said, frowning. "Are you sure this is the right deadly snakey-thing?"_

_ "We are sure." He could make out just the faintest hint of disapproval in the druid's voice as he spoke. A member of the anti-Emrys factions then? Or just another disapproving druid. He turned to the figure in the shadows._

_ "I still think it's not the right- Ah, Morgana! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Last he had checked, Morgana was neither a druid nor a male. With a sigh, she dropped the illusion, smirking at him._

_ "Now, Emrys- It's time for you to die!" she sent a deadly fire bolt blasting his way. Merlin sighed and flicked his palm upwards a bit, releasing the snake back into the water. The fire-bolt disappeared a few feet from his face._

_ "But the snake, Morgana, is it dangerous? You can kill me in a minute."_

_ "I'll worry about the snake. Now DIE!"_

_ "Wait." He said. He suspended her there, in mid-air. "Let me check the snake."_

_ He performed a quick, experimental scan of the snake. It had mild poisoning in his blood, but Merlin strongly suspected that the poison was a defense mechanism rather than a weapon. He glared at Morgana._

_ "You can't just do that! I'm a busy man, don't waste my time!" he said. He was busy enough, being Lord/High King of all druid kind, being the servant and personal bodyguard to King Arthur and part-time paramour to the Lady of the Lake. It was hard, hard work._

_ "Never! Never!" Morgana chanted. Merlin sent her back to her hovel using his magic. She would stay there to lick her wounds for at least one night. He could deal with her permanently in the morning._

_ With weary feet, he began the long walk back to the citadel. It would be so much easier just to rest in Avalon for a night…_

Arthur was awake. That wasn't a problem quite the way you would expect it to be.

"Merlin, you lazy- Wake up."

Sighing, he lifted Merlin into the driver's seat of the car and turned the keys. It was going to be late before they got back, and they still needed grocerys. It was odd, waking up in the middle of nowhere with your manservant lying next to you like-

Wait- _manservant? _Merlin wasn't his manservant. Arthur didn't even have a manservant.

Ah.

A temporary knock on the head, perhaps? He last remembered a lizard coming at them out of nowhere, and then nothing.

Had the lizard changed? But that was impossible.

Had Merlin changed?

Yes. But how?

He didn't know.

That wasn't an unusual occurrence by itself, but he had to admit that the circumstance was strange. He would ask Merlin what happened once he woke up.

Why wasn't he more bothered by this?

He didn't know.

Dinner came after the food was made but before bed, as it generally does. That was when things started to get a little bit stranger than normal.

Merlin had woke up halfway to the grocery store and explained it away as Arthur fainting in the heat.

Arthur resented that. He was a man, and men didn't simply swoon in the heat.

But there was time to bother Merlin about that later. For now, Merlin was still sitting there on his log, frowning in pain.

Arthur asked why.

"Headache." Merlin answered shortly.

So that was that.

They carefully made their way through another chamber, dusting off the walls as they went. Merlin studied a map, having recovered from the previous day. There was something different with Merlin that day; a pride in his bearing that Arthur had never noticed before; a confidence to his walk. He filed it away to think on later.

"The top floor only has room for one chamber, if we go by the size of the others. We assumed that it was a burial chamber at first, but it sounds more echo-ey than that. So, to sum everything up… I'm not quite sure." Merlin said. Arthur frowned at the map.

"How do we know it's even a burial chamber?" he asked. "No, sorry. I mean, how do we know that this pyramid was built with a burial in mind?"

"We don't, like I said." He stood up and started to pace back and forth, preoccupied. Back, forth, back, forth. He had been like that ever since the car broke down two days ago.

Wait: The car broke down?

It had worked when Arthur went to drive it.

Hmm.

"Arthur!" Merlin called. Arthur looked up and Merlin started talking entergetically again. "Arthur, look at these maps. Look at the scans."

"The scans show the rooms we couldn't get into yet." Arthur said, feeling like he was being called on at school. Some of the rooms couldn't be disturbed; they had no doors to get through and the place was too valuable to mess around with. There was one other notable aspect of the pyramid: There was only one way up to the next floor on each level, each other one leading into a dead end.

"What about it?" Arthur pressed. Merlin was prone to moving his ideas forward in leaps and bounds, and sometimes he would skip ahead a few mental processes, leaving Arthur plodding behind. Sure to type, Merlin was way ahead of him.

"Don't you see? Arthur, I've got it!" Merlin said excitedly. "I think it's a maze!"

As he spoke, the image became clear before Arthur's eyes. It was so obvious, once you knew where to look.

"But then-"

"There must be a point to it." Merlin said. "I think it's hiding something. Something big!"

"And that something is in the top chamber! Yes! This is it, we just need to find our way up-"

"And find whatever it is!"

They set off, their gazes full of visions of treasure.

_Not so genre savvy after all, are you Merlin?_

"I don't trust you." Merlin said, glaring at Mordred.

"Neither do I." Mordred replied sarcastically. Merlin laughed grimly.

"Let's cut the crap. I know that you know that I know." Merlin know now that he was old, he was _the _Merlin, but he was still prone to the dramatics from time to time.

"Wait, sorry? I didn't catch that." So, apparently, was Mordred. He held a hand to his ear.

"I know that- Oh, never mind! And I think- I hope- I can help you." Merlin told him. He knew that Mordred had magic too and he knew that no morality was infallible.

"The magic?" Mordred asked, as though he was reading Merlin's mind. "I already have that under control."

"How can you? Who taught you?"

"Someone in this camp. She-" Mordred cut himself off mid-sentence, like he had almost given something away.

"Is it Morgana? Morgause? I know the legends, Mordred and there are too many coincidences here to make me rest easy. Is this one of them?" he wondered if he should be playing up the whole 'ancient, extremely powerful warlock' thing, but the 'concerned older brother' just came so much more naturally.

"Only fools put stock in what others say. If those legends were true, then you would be nothing but a pathetic, withered old man!"

Merlin turned red. "And you- you- No, this isn't right. You have so much potential for good. Don't let the magic destroy you."

Mordred studied him carefully for a moment. Melrin felt inadequate, somehow, like Mordred was jusdging his every move. "I would watch your back, brother. People tend to get hurt a lot around here, don't they? Sometimes they just… slip off the edge? I would hate for you to get hurt."

"I know." Merlin said quietly. "You just don't."

"What? No, you're wrong."

"The Mordred of legend wasn't quite the way I remember him. The Mordred I knew was a druid, no more than a boy. He was simple. He was peaceful. His only crime was existing, but he let it turn him bitter and revenge-hungry, turning against those who helped him the first time."

"Don't worry. I won't go evil on you just yet." Mordred replied, humoring him.

"That's good." Merlin replied anyway.

The fire crackled in the background and Arthur pressed his lips against Gwen's, threading his fingers through her hair. He held there for a few seconds, then broke apart.

"Are we a couple then?" he asked. Gwen nodded breathlessly.

Gwaine wolf-whistled.

Gwen nodded again.

Merlin talked in his sleep. Sadly for Arthur's sleeping habits, it wasn't a recent development.

"Muh… Oh, shit! Got to save the prat."

Arthur had kissed Gwen. He had kissed Gwen. He had…

He would just keep repeating that to himself until he fell asleep.

"…Stupid lizard."

The sun dawned bright and early the next day, it's rays filtering don through the thick layers of branches and hitting Arthur's face. It was a warm, muggy day and life seemed slow and calm.

Breakfast was eaten in a comfortable silent. By this point, everyone in camp was comfortable enough around each other that they didn't need to make small talk to fill the silence. Then, it was time to open up the last room.

Lance stood up.

"Arthur, Merlin, time to go." They started up the stairs and into the chambers, checking the map carefully. Soon enough, they arrived in the second-to-last chamber.

Arthur took a long stick he had brought from outside and reached it towards the door. Then Merlin stood in front of the door.

"Arthur, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Get out of the way, Merlin!" Arthur told him. Merlin nodded no, a troubled expression in his eyes.

"I can't. I could be wrong, but- Just let me and Lance try first."

Arthur nodded. He handed the stick off to Lance, who tried to nudge the door open. It stayed firmly closed. He handed the stick off to Merlin, who also tried, pushing much harder than Lance. Finally, he stood back up.

"I don't think we should go in there. I can't tell you why, but I think it'll be a bad idea."

_Open the door._

"What?" Arthur asked, looking around. "Did you hear that?"

"No." Lance replied, looking worried. Merlin moved towards the door, to bar It shut.

_Open it! Now!_

"It wants me to open the door!" Arthur said. His eyes were wide and panicked.

"Don't open it." Merlin said quietly, but his voice was drowned out by the _monster_ or whatever it was that was inside his head.

"It says to open it." Arthur said, slowly, hypnotically. "It wants me to open the door."

Suddenly, he lunged at Merlin, tackling the teenager to the ground. Lance raced toward Arthur and punched him square in the face and Arthur recoiled, but kept going towards his target. Merlin tripped him and held him in place with his magic, but Arthur just kept reaching forwards with his stick, reaching towards the door. Merlin urgently held him in place.

"Arthur, ignore it. Ignore it, pretend you don't hear it."

"I can't." Arthur intoned emotionlessly.

"You can, you can! You're better than this!"

Neither of them noticed Lance off to the side, watching them with a slight expression of consternation on his face.

Lance made a noise in the back of his throat and Merlin instinctively glanced over at him, losing his grip on Arthur. Using that momentary advantage, Arthur lunged forward and pushed himself against the door. It gave way and Arthur toppled inward, Merlin frantically pulling him back with magic.

"I am free! I will reign, a god among men, the last creator and the final destroyer!" Arthur said. Then he fell limply onto the floor.

Merlin and Lance rushed over to see what terror-with-a-god-complex Arthur had unleashed into the world. They looked into the chamber.

There was nothing there but a small clay jar, wobbling dangerously to either side.


	9. Rise, Sir Luckless

Political power is powerful power but it isn't as powerful as the power to back up what you say you can do with your power. You understand?

I don't own _Merlin._

Chapter 9: Finding the Highway (You want to steal a piece of time?)

* * *

After Arthur died, Merlin had kept busy. He was, after all, the Lord Emrys and had a reputation to maintain. That wasn't the problem. The problem (Predictably) was Arthur.

In that, Arthur remembered.

_Everything._

Obviously, he didn't remember anything after his death (Pity, this, Merlin managed some of his most impressive feats in the interim years) but he did remember the events leading up to his death.

"So are you a wizard then? Did you go to Hogwarts?"

"I. Don't. Know." If he could have injected a smiley face at the end of that sentence, he would have. Just for irony.

"Well, why not?" It seemed like a logical question. Had Merlin ever mentioned how much he hated logic?

"I don't remember that bit yet, Arthur. I have a lot more memories than you to recall."

"Well, haven't you had longer to remember them? Besides, you can't have outlived me by that much."

"Try a couple thousand years. Or was it only a thousand? The years tend to blur together."

"What?" Arthur asked. "How?"

"I'm immortal, Arthur. I did something to my memories. I wanted to erase it all. All the responsibility and the pain and everything. I just wanted it gone."

Kilgharrah had restored everyone's memories, despite Merlin's warnings to the contrary. The day after they unearthed the pot in the uppermost room, everyone had fallen asleep that night and when they woke up, they remembered. Just like that.

Merlin had considerably more years to remember than even Nimueh or Gaius, the longeset-lived survivors. He was still in the process of remembering, his memories coming to him in bits rather than all at once, as the others had.

The camp had been very quiet that morning. Everyone assumed that they were going crazy or something, none of them wanted to voice what they had remembered. Except Gwen, who had broken the ice for everyone. Dear, sweet Gwen.

"Merlin," she had said "I think something's wrong. For some reason, I'm absolutely convinced that I'm Queen Guinevere of Camelot. Crazy, right? Make sure you put me in a nice mental hospital."

Then Gwaine had stepped forward. "You're not the only one."

"You also think you're the reincarnated queen of Camelot?"

"No- I was a knight. Sir Gwaine."

"And I. Sir Lancelot." Lance said.

"Sir Percival." Percival stepped forward quietly.

"I was Sir Leon."

"The level-headed one. Just like now. I remember." Gwen said quietly.

"Elyan." Elyan said, stepping forward. "I still can't believe my sister was a Queen." Then he rounded on Arthur. "If you ever break her heart, in this life or the past, I will kill you."

"Noted." Arthur had replied. Merlin stood still in the shadows, and Arthur turned towards him.

"Merlin, don't you remember?" Lance said. Merlin nodded grimly.

"All of that. I remember it all. And…"

"And what?" Gwaine asked.

"It's nothing. Really." Merlin didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted to…

He just wanted to fly.

"I'm going to wait until you tell me." Gwaine insisted. Merlin sighed.

"Don't you want to forget? Wouldn't it be easier for all of you?" he turned to Arthur. "All those people you lost. Morgana, Uther, Agravaine, your mother. Everything pent up inside-"

But Arthur had turned pale. He looked at Morgana.

"Good gods, Morgana. If we remember doesn't that mean that he-"

"Uther must remember too." Morgana finished. Their old enmity was set aside, for a moment. If Uther remembered, the consequences could be catastrophic. No one knew quite how he would react.

"How could you want to forget that? It was bad, sure, but what about the good? Merlin, don't you remember?"

Gwaine wouldn't stop pursuing the subject of _Merlin _almost like there was something Merlin was missing out on. Merlin asked as much.

"Yes! Don't you remember? You were just a little boy!"

"I don't, Gwaine, I'm sorry! What am I supposed to be remembering?"

"This is the second lifetime you redeemed me, Merlin. You were only a boy, but I guess you were so much more…"

Merlin seemed as old as the hills when he replied. "I'm no redeeming angel, Gwaine. I'm sorry. I'm just me."

Arthur and Morgana were still arguing about Uther.

"No, no, no! That's not enough, we have to-"

"Whatever you're about to say, I know it's a bad idea, _brain-dead._"

"Hey! Don't call me that!"

Leon and Percival were trying to keep Nimueh and Morgause apart, the two women arguing about who got to be high priestess first this time around, Morgause trying to beat Nimueh with her shoe.

"It should be me. You got to go first last time!"

"Look, why can't we both be? That would be so much easier!"

"No, where's the drama in that? I hate boring people!"

Lancelot was whispering urgently with Mordred, heads huddled together off to the side.

"I swear I'm not evil, I swear! I don't know what I was thinking last time."

"You little- If you hurt anyone I care about, I'll kill you."

"No need to get so violent, _brother._"

Gaius and Geoffrey of Monmouth were looking over the proceedings, looking faintly scholarly.

"This'll be one for the history books. Or the movies, as it may be."

"It's sad, really, how far the young folks these days have strayed."

"Sad, so sad."

And Merlin had had enough.

"QUIET!" he shouted.

Everyone fell silent, looking towards him.

"You all remember, then." He said. They nodded as a collective. "Then listen to me now. Last time, Camelot fell from within. It fell from disorganization, chaos and vengeance, but most of all, it fell because of me."

Gwaine made a disapproving noise in the back of his throat, but Merlin stopped him with a look.

"But I've spent centuries repaying for everything I failed in, and throughout those years, I came to another realization. Guess what? I'm not solely to blame! I blame each and every one of you- Well, except maybe Freya. And Percival and Leon and Gaius and Vivian. But who knows, maybe my trust has been misplaced. And I don't want any of us to make those mistakes again. So I'm challenging you now to swear on your life, on your very soul, that you won't let those petty mistakes bring us down from within again. We're better than that. Who's with me?"

There was silence again, for just a minute. Then, predictably, Gwaine stepped forward.

"I am."

"And me." Added Arthur. "It's your time, my friend. I'm glad to finally meet the real you as an equal."

And then, one by one, each and every person there stepped up and swore to Merlin that they wouldn't make the same mistakes. Then there was just a small crowd left; Morgause and Morgana, looking at each other in disgust, Nimueh, her gaze steady on Merlin, and Cenred.

"Morgana?" Merlin asked. "Come with me. Please?"

"I can't. I killed so many of you. Goddess, I tortured you, Merlin, and Gwaine, and I can't even remember who else! You can never forgive me." Morgana's face was creased in empty horror, years of loneliness unfolding in her imagination.

"Who would I be without you, Morgana? No, there's nothing left to forgive. Just come with us. You don't have to be alone this time."

_You don't have to be alone…_ The words echoes throughout Morgana's head. She desperately didn't want to be alone.

In the end, the choice was easy. She stepped towards Merlin.

"I swear."

"Then come with us." Merlin said softly. He looked over at the remaining people; Morgause, Nimueh, and Cenred. "I won't force you to come, but be warned. If you aren't with me, you're against me."

Nimueh walked over to Merlin's side, looking at him through hooded eyes. "I guess I'm with you, then."

"Morgause? Cenred?"

"You betrayed our kind, Merlin. But more importantly, you failed." Morgause stalked away for a few steps, then realized that they were surrounded by nothing but rainforest. She turned on her heel, grabbed a hold of Cenred's arm, and turned on the spot, disappearing into thin air.

Merlin turned to face the assembled crowd.

"Ready?" he asked, trying to look each and every one of them in the eye.

A few scared, but determined affirmative answers came from the crowd. Then Merlin stepped down, just as he always would.

"Then I give you, the Once and Future King, Arthur Pendragon!"

And Arthur stepped up.

* * *

_The druids knelt down as one. Merlin stood there, looking faintly bemused, Arthur next to him, Gwaine standing protectively between the two._

_ "You won't." Gwaine said to Arthur. "If you kill him, I'll kill you."_

_ "He won't." Merlin said, as if he hadn't just revealed himself before the entire court of Camelot. "Right, Arthur?"_

_ Arthur mutely nodded no. He wouldn't. Merlin was right._

_ "Er… You can stop kneeling now." Merlin told the assembled druids. They stayed reverentially bowed down._

_ "Our Lord Emrys! We've waited for this moment, when the Once and Future King finally acknowledges his other half!" a druid said. He had a great, tawny mane of red hair and warm hazel eyes._

_ "Godric, don't be an idiot." Merlin said. "Can everyone please stand up now?"_

_ The druids reluctantly rose. In an instant, Merlin and Arthur were swarmed by druids, all wanting to get closer to them. Godric walked up to Merlin._

_ "Emrys." He nodded respectfully. "May I present to you my colleagues, Helga, Salazar, and Rowena?"_

_ "It's great to see you. Oh, hey! Rowena! I didn't know you knew… One second, I better go talk to them." Merlin said absentmindedly. He hadn't known that Rowena was collaborating on Hogwarts. He should have guessed. But then a fight broke out between two of the students they had brought; Salazar and Godric always picked students with such conflicting personalities._

_ "You idiot! Get off me!" one of them said. Merlin identified him as the Gryffindor. The Slytherin paused mid-tackle and scrambled up to his feet._

_ "Emrys, Sir!" he said, executing a clumsy salute. Next to him, the Gryffindor did the same._

_ "What's your name?" Merlin asked. The boys scrambled over each other to answer._

_ "Leo, Sir!" said the Slytherin._

_ "Felix!" replied the Gryffindor. Merlin's eyebrows rose infinitesimally and they fell silent. It was lovely to have that much power, he mused._

_ "And what are your plans for after Hogwarts?" he asked._

_ "A scribe, Sir!" replied the Slytherin. The Gryffindor looked at him with distain._

_ "A potioneer." The Gryffindor said. "Emrys, sir, can I ask you a...?" he trailed off._

_ "Sure."_

_ "You were a Gryffindor, right?"_

_ "Ah." Merlin said. "Not quite. I was a Slytherin."_

_ The Slytherin punched the air with his hand, then quickly quieted down, trying to regain some dignity._

_ "Oh." Said the Gryffindor._

_ "But don't worry. You don't need to be a Slytherin to be great any more than you need to be a Gryffindor to be brave, a Hufflpuff to be kind, or a Ravenclaw to be clever." Merlin explained. During his brief time at Hogwarts, he had been friends with witches and wizards from all the houses._

_ "I'll try, Sir!"_

_ "As will I."_

_ Merlin nodded, grinning at the two. It was hard to believe that they were barely five years younger than him. Then he turned to Arthur._

_ "See? These two are hardly evil, right?"_

_ Arthur reluctantly conceded. "But that kind of power is dangerous, Merlin. We'll need restriction, something to make sure that they don't abuse their power."_

_ And that was how the Ministry of Magic was formed._

* * *

The company gathered around the makeshift round table shortly before lunch that day. Both Merlin and Arthur tried to persuade the other to sit at the head of the table, a problem which was solved when Gwen pointed out that the table was _round, _there was no head of the table. And so they took their places for the oncoming debate.

All in all, the company was handling it well.

Arthur was not, all things considered.

He had died in Merlin's arms. The thought just kept running through his head. He had left Merlin.

Friendship was so much deeper, all those lifetimes ago, Arthur thought. When people had to decide: Would they give their life for this person? Friendships then were so much less superficial.

And at the same time, Arthur was confused. The others were just accepting this, without wonder or devastation or anything. He was the Once and Future King. This was his court. It boggled his mind, realizing that for whatever reason, he was the one chosen to do… something.

And he didn't know exactly what. That terrified him. He was expecting something so much more, not just a simple adknowlegment. He just wanted someone to explain to him what was going on.

Merlin, meanwhile, was being bombarded by memories. It turned out that he had literally written the textbooks on magic use, a feat which made him feel both a bit smug and very accomplished. His memories were fragmented, but he felt confident that they would come back in time. This was good. This was very good.

Then a knife came flying towards him. He saw it coming out of the corner of his eye, but assumed it was a silvery bug or something. And then he was on the ground, Morgana on top of him.

He looked up at her, then saw that she was wearing a low-cut top and awkwardly averted his eyes. "Thanks."

Morgana smirked. "You have to be more careful."

"Yeah. I should. Uh, you don't think I could get up…?" he asked. Morgana smirked yet again and Merlin felt a vague sense of doom. Morgana+smirking=not good, in his experience.

"But I'm so comfortable here!" she said. Still, despite her protests, she rolled aside, letting Merlin get up to inspect the knife.

"Did you see who threw that?" he asked. He should have, perhaps, asked with some sort of authority, but he had faced down death far too many times to be frightened. Besides, there was the whole immortality clause that came with being Emrys.

"Nimueh." Morgana replied grimly. A shadow seemed to pass over Merlin's eyes. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"I'll deal with her." Merlin said. He caught sight of her, arms held back by a very angry Lance. She wouldn't be getting free anytime soon.

But, there came a problem.

Ever since he had killed Nimueh the first time around, he had wished that he hadn't. No, that was imprecise. He wished that he hadn't killed her the way he had. He had wanted the witty banter and a proper, magical duel that didn't involve ducking behind trees or dropping branches or calling forth a mysterious portal between worlds to swallow anyone up. That just wouldn't do.

Mithian was still wearing gloves from her work in preservation earlier that day. He approached her.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing at the glove. She nodded and pulled it off.

"But if you get it dirty, you're cleaning it." She told him.

"Anytime." He replied, striding up towards Lance and Nimueh. With one contemptuous flick of his wrist, he tossed the glove down to the ground near Nimueh's feet. "It's not a gauntlet, but it'll do. I, Merlin Emrys, challenge you, Nimueh, high priestess of the old Religion, to a duel to the death."

Nimueh nodded confidently. Her magic had failed her once. It wouldn't fail her again, she felt sure.

"Lance, let her go." Merlin told him. Lance reluctantly let Nimueh loose. They took a few steps back and Merlin bowed. After a few tense seconds, Nimueh bowed as well.

"I will not let my old religion down." She told him. She seemed so confident. Merlin found himself growing excited about the coming battle against his will.

"On three. One, two, three!"

Nimueh threw a lightning bolt towards Merlin, but he blocked it with another easy flick of his hands, sending it rebounding back at her.

"Is that the best you can do?" he taunted. Nimueh's face twisted into a snarl and she sent a giant ball of fire towards Merlin. He summoned all the precipitation out of the air and the plants and the planet itself and sent it all in a great wave towards Nimueh, dissolving her fireball.

Nimueh let out a wordless scream of rage and let forth all her power, concentrated on Merlin. It surrounded him as a crackling ball of pure, electric energy.

Seconds later, Merlin became clear through the energy again as he let off the electric current in every direction. It went through his body, through the tips of his fingers and toes and sent him arching slightly in the air. He channelled it all throughout the environment. But Nimueh was recharging was; he only had a few seconds before she would be able to access more magic. Nimueh's magic was pure, elemental and instinctual. It wasn't even dark, not in this life. Just bitter. Merlin finished dispelling the energy, keeping just a bit for his grand finale.

"You can't kill me!" Nimueh mocked.

Merlin blinked. "I can, actually." And then he summoned a giant lightning bolt from Nimueh's leftover electric magic, which hit his opponent and killed her dead.

She fell to the ground, looking very singed. Merlin sighed and stepped over towards her. In a quiet voice, so quiet only those standing the closest to him could hear, he spoke to her.

"Destiny bites, doesn't it, Nim?" Then he turned away and left. "Can someone just…" he gestured towards the crispy-Nimueh lying in a little pile on the forest floor. Iseldir stepped forward. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Well." Gwaine said. "That was a bit of a mood-killer. Still, great battle! She was all like '_I'm going to kill you, Harry!' _And you were all '_Nuh huh, creepy eyebrow-less dude!'_ Man, that was cool. And a mood killer. A bit of that, too."

"Good to know you still have your old sense of humor." Merlin said, the corner of his lips twitching upwards. Then he laughed, because really, what else was there to do?

* * *

Later, nine at night:

"It's time to go." Merlin said, melting out of the shadow in front of Arthur. "The flight leaves in an hour and a half."

"Alright." Said Arthur. They were going to pick up some artefacts that Merlin had collected about five hundred years ago, in the beginning of the exploration days. Gaius had inspected the top chamber and had discovered something like an ancient curse on the jar in the middle of the room. They had decided that in the interest of keeping the world safe, they should seal it away.

The drive there was one of terse silence; the flight to New York even quieter. From New York, they boarded another flight to Wales and arrived, scraggly and jet-lagged sometime the next day.

Their mission was short and easy enough: Get the artefacts and go home as fast as possible. Merlin had stockpiled thousands of items in the interim years.

He nudged the cast-iron door open with a hit of magic. They pulled upwards and Arthur gasped in surprise and delight.

Sitting there, right in the bay of the garage, was a beautiful jet. She had long white wings and had been painted with a dragon on the body of the plane. Arthur went towards it imediantly, just to touch it.

"She's beautiful." He told Merlin. Merlin had already left that room and was rooting through a pile of boxes in the adjoining storage.

"I call her Destiny!" Merlin called back ironically. "Ah, here it is-"

There was a brief clattering of boxes. Arthur poked his head through the room and saw Merlin suspending the ten or so boxes that had fallen, hurriedly stacking them back up.

"Found it! One clay jar, identical to the one holding the curse back. Now I just want to pick up a couple other things and we can go."

"Good. Can I fly?"

Merlin laughed. "Sure. I never really got back into flying after… after the wars."

"You were there?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah. The first time around I was a spy for, well, whoever had the payment I wanted, but the second time I was a pilot. And it was bad, Arthur. I thought then that surely you would come back. But you never came. Why did you never come?"

"I don't know." Arthur said quietly. "Life in Avalon was a haze."

Merlin nodded curtly but his tone was quiet and desperate. "I don't think I can handle another war."

"You can. Besides, what makes you think there will be another war?"

"Because you're back." Merlin's words hit him like blows. Like it was his fault. And, Arthur reflected, it might very well be his fault. Gaius had said that the curse was bad, but what if it was worse than they let on? Arthur didn't know if they'd make it.

Arthur had let that curse out. He didn't know what had made him open that door, despite Merlin's warning, but something had gotten into his head. It just kept telling him to open the door.

"I won't say I'm sorry." Arthur said because, well, of course he said that. Merlin grabbed a couple more items at random and dropped them carelessly in a sack.

"Alright, I have everything. Let's go."

With that, they got in the plane. The takeoff was one of the most exhilarating moments of Arthur's life, as he controlled this beautiful plane. It took off smoothly and faster than could possibly be non-magical. Then they were out over the ocean on their way back directly home.

**AN: This fic is on a temporary hiatus until sometime next year while I focus on a combo of original writing and more fanfiction. I like to alternate writing fanfiction between writing my original stuff because it helps me get a feel for all the genres and different styles of writing. Imperfect Platitudes was an exercise in writing in a dramatic but still fairly unemotional way. The concentration of this was 'show, don't tell' and 'only use the most essential moments because everything else is filler.' My piece for next month is just finishing up my Harry Potter fic, The Absence. In the Absence, both Harry and Draco find their children missing one day. The clues aren't adding up, but a perceptive reader might be able to figure out the answer. This is shameless self-promoting, people! Check it out!**


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